Recently, a friend shared a video on how to use chopsticks. Check the video below:

This video is informative and fun at the same time. Some parts of it are true but most parts are just for fun. The tutorial for using the chopsticks starts at around 0:32.

Since I’m not of Chinese, Japanese, Korean descent or any other culture using chopsticks, I don’t really know how to use the chopsticks. I only learned using the chopsticks from an encyclopedia at home and practiced when I had the opportunity to do so. Which meant that I have available disposable chopsticks at hand that I got from local Chinese or Japanese restaurants.

Since I’m only using the disposable ones, I have to separate the two chopsticks apart. Try watching the video at around 1:00. You’ll get what I’m saying.

Make sure to apply equal force with your left and right hand.

Do I really have to do that for me to break the chopsticks evenly? Lol. Good thing I asked my mom to buy some wooden chopsticks from a local store. I don’t have to calculate the forces applied to each chopstick.

Moving on. I remember once while eating at a Japanese restaurant back in the Philippines, I saw several posters listing some chopsticks etiquette. The only thing I remembered was, Do not point your chopsticks at people. Or something like that. I also remember a friend joked around and pierced the food and one of my friends said that it’s a no-no.

Anyway, I searched the net and found out that there are different etiquettes in using the chopsticks from different countries. Here’s a short list from wiki.

And here are some interesting blog posts about chopsticks. The second one contains posts on Korean etiquette which is quite handy when you happen to visit Korea. It also contains a comparison of the Japanese, Chinese and Korean chopsticks. It’s really informative, I must tell you.

• You’re guide to better chopstick etiquette (mostly Japanese)
• Let’s Talk Chopsticks

Anyway, here’s a photo of my hand while holding chopsticks. I know, it looks so tensed when I hold the sticks together, I guess that’s because I was holding the camera with my not so good left hand. Or maybe that’s just the way I hold it, period. Lol.

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On an added note, I also learned that the Filipino term for chopsticks is ipit-ipit. Ipit rougly means to pinch or to clip together in English. Well, that makes sense. But I never heard a fellow Filipino use ipit-ipit in naming chopsticks.